The present invention relates to disposal systems and methods for recycling of waste by processing waste materials, and specifically reuse of waste materials into usable composite materials using incorporated plastic materials and aggregates from waste.
Recycling is the collection and reuse of materials that would otherwise be considered waste to produce new products. Motivation for recycling includes environmental concerns, as recycling reduces the use of energy and raw materials and further reduces the need to dispose of waste. in situations where production from recycled material is less expensive than from new material. While an extensive variety of waste is recyclable, materials commonly recycled on an industrial scale include glass, paper, aluminum, and steel. Recycled materials can be derived from pre-consumer waste (materials used in manufacturing), or post-consumer waste (materials discarded by the consumer).
One form of recycling is the reuse of goods, especially bottles. Reuse is distinguished from most forms of recycling, where the good is reduced to a raw material and used in the making of a new good (e.g. crushing of bottles to make glass for new bottles).
The disposal of waste demands resources of many kinds. Typically, these resources include sorting raw waste products, transporting the waste, and incinerating the waste. Often waste producers cannot afford to process the waste they produce and the environment suffers from waste buildup, ending up in the bed of a river as toxic river sludge.
There is thus a need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have disposal systems and methods for recycling of waste by processing waste materials, and specifically reuse of waste materials into usable composite materials using incorporated plastic materials and aggregates from waste.
Certain methods of stabilization and/or recycling and/or reuse of wastes are known in the art. A representative reference including potentially relevant background material is U.S. Pat. No. 6,204,312 which discloses a process for manufacturing organic and inorganic compositions, using non toxic resin formulations. U.S. Pat. No. 6,204,312 utilizes waste material as aggregate in a composite material and the matrix material of the composite material is formed by resin from non-waste sources. The present invention stabilizes, recycles and re-uses solid waste material as aggregate and matrix of a composite material.
The term “waste” as used herein includes materials unwanted and/or rejected as worthless whether domestic, medical, commercial or industrial and further includes unwanted materials already in the environment.
The term “waste material,” as used herein, may relate to one or more byproducts resulting from at least one process and having relatively little or no substantial use or worth. The waste material may be a substance generated, for example, during an industrial process. In some examples, waste material may be a substance that is generally disposed, destroyed (e.g., incinerated), and/or recycled in a process associated with one entity (e.g., a waste material generator or other entity possessing the waste material) paying a fee to another entity handling the disposal, destruction, and/or recycling of the substance. The waste material may include hazardous and/or non-hazard waste material and may include liquids, solids, and semi-solid materials (e.g., sludge).
The product of the process of embodiments of the present invention is a “composite material”. Although “composite materials” are generally fully engineered materials, with typically well defined components including matrix materials and aggregates, the term “composite material” as used hereinafter is defined more broadly to include as components matrix materials and aggregates which are minimally controlled because the components are sourced from waste materials. Further “aggregates” or “pieces” as defined herein include a large variety of solid waste pieces from small sub millimeter size particles, to large manufactured waste products of centimeters and meters in size such as electrical appliances, metal furniture, and even automobiles. Aggregates are typically of solid materials including metals, ceramics, and glass materials. Matrix materials are derived from plastic materials, especially common thermoplastic materials such as polyethylene and polypropylene.
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Recycling